{"id":3227,"date":"2017-05-15T00:00:35","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T04:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3227"},"modified":"2017-05-14T20:13:41","modified_gmt":"2017-05-15T00:13:41","slug":"eleven-01-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3227","title":{"rendered":"Eleven – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Hecate had fallen asleep again when I left, a little calmer and more centered than she\u2019d been when I\u2019d gotten there. I hated to settle things on her shoulders this fast, but telling that someday, I wouldn\u2019t be there to look after my son, that I might need her to fill some sort of void in his life, that seemed to help. I hoped she\u2019d stay\u2014not just because it would mean that Matt would stay, but because I was starting to like her, despite everything she\u2019d put people through over the centuries.<\/p>\n

Lin had made a few quiet, unhappy sounds when I\u2019d gently lifted him from her arms as she was falling asleep, but he\u2019d quieted quickly. I guess he was starting to take a liking to his auntie, too. He needed to be fed soon, but he didn\u2019t seem hungry yet so I\u2019d figured it could wait until I found J.T. And asked him to go have a look at Hecate. I\u2019d been able to tell that she was in pain, more than she\u2019d been when I\u2019d been there with Matt, and I\u2019d noticed the little bit of blood on her shirt. Whether she wanted him there or not, J.T. needed to have a look for everyone\u2019s peace of mind and probably her health, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cMar?\u201d<\/p>\n

I stopped and turned, halfway toward the grassy field below the forge. Something had sounded strange in Thom\u2019s voice and it made my heart stutter-step.<\/p>\n

What now?<\/em><\/p>\n

He came toward me quickly, wrapping both arms around Lin and I and leaning in to kiss me soundly. I made a quiet sound of surprise and distress, blinking rapidly. The kiss was enough to take my breath away and while it certainly wasn\u2019t unwelcome, it left me startled.<\/p>\n

I stared at him when he drew back, his arms loosening slightly. \u201cWhat was that for?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom shook his head. \u201cI don\u2019t do it often enough,\u201d he murmured, lifting a hand to gently stroke our son\u2019s hair. He stared at our baby for the space of a few heartbeats before he looked up at me. \u201cI\u2019m sorry I startled you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s okay, I mean…startling me is all it did.\u201d I reached up to stroke his jaw lightly. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head. \u201cI was looking at the walls with Seamus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom shook his head again and drew Lin and I to his chest, hugging us close. I exhaled, a shiver running through me.<\/p>\n

And now he\u2019s scared and god only knows why.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be okay,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWon\u2019t it?\u201d I kissed his jaw gently. \u201cWe\u2019ve made it this far. Almost a year and look at what we\u2019ve faced and turned back. Look at what we\u2019ve built.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d he whispered. \u201cMar, I know, and that\u2019s what\u2019s got me worried. Look at everything we\u2019ve built and think about it\u2014really think. Despite everything, we\u2019re still fragile, we\u2019re still vulnerable\u2014and we\u2019re a target. Damn it all, we\u2019re a target and I don\u2019t know how we\u2019re going to keep everyone safe. I don\u2019t know if we can<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to. We\u2019ll find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

He just held me a little tighter and suddenly I realized what was bothering him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to do it alone,\u201d I whispered into his shirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I do,\u201d he murmured. \u201cI\u2019m the one who has to figure this one out. It\u2019s my job\u2014it\u2019s what I took on myself for the sake of everyone else. This one\u2019s on me, Mar, whether I like it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

I ached to argue the point\u2014I wanted to tell him it wasn\u2019t the way he thought it was\u2014but I\u2019d known him long enough to at least begin to realize when he needed to figure things out for himself.<\/p>\n

This was one of those times and this was one of those things. He wouldn\u2019t accept that it wasn\u2019t just on his shoulders until it smacked him full in the face.<\/p>\n

Instead, I just held him and let him hold me, standing at the bottom of the hill somewhere between the gates, the cookfires, and the forge. Sometimes, that was all that he needed. I didn\u2019t think that it would be this time, but it was something that I could give him\u2014something he needed even if it wasn\u2019t everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you, Thom,\u201d I whispered. \u201cAnd I trust you and I believe in you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shivered and held on a little tighter. \u201cI love you, too, Mar. I love you, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] Hecate had fallen asleep again when I left, a little calmer and more centered than she\u2019d been when I\u2019d gotten there. I hated to settle things on her shoulders this fast, but … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[240,253,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,149,148,168,147,165,158,200,146],"class_list":["post-3227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-11-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Q3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3228,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3227\/revisions\/3228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}